Hard Night

Permanent Midnight, while certainly not the best film ever made about heroin addiction, is a very solid film that was largely over looked by both critics and the public. The brightest jewel in this film's crown is Ben Stiller's performance as Jerry Stahl. I found it interesting that while Stiller got loads of attention for getting his "package" caught in his zipper in "There's Something About Mary" (which is a very funny moive) hardly an eye was blinked when he gave the performance of his career in "Midnight." I think this film proves the theory that often comedic actors give the best dramatic performances. Do yourself a favor and rent it.

Poor little rich kid, Jerry Stahl, an actual TV screenwriter in 1980s Hollywood, p***es all his good fortune away through a hefty heroin habit. Jerry then hits bottom, recovers, and writes his autobiography. "Permanent Midnight" chronicles Jerry's fall from Hollywood hotshot to junkie bum. Besides such an unpleasant subject, and an equally unsympathetic main character, "Permanent Midnight" still entertains, in a morbid sort of way. It's told in flashback (at the beginning of the movie Jerry's just finished rehab and is about to return to his old LA haunts), so we kind of know where the movie will take us. There's no mystery, we're going to watch Jerry's self-destructive crash and burn in close-up. We're a little in the dark about what will happen after the movie catches up with itself, but there's really not a lot of tension. It's like watching a car wreck in very slow motion.

Ben Stiller does an excellent job portraying Jerry, with his craving for the drug rising above, and then destroying, all that's good in his life. It's quite a frightening portrayal. Elizabeth Hurley, as his girlfriend, is a bit of a stretch for both her acting talent and in the casting. But the rest of the cast does fine work. I think the major detriment to this movie is that the audience knows beforehand how it will all end. This is a very dramatic subject, but with no drama in the screenplay. And that is a drag.

Not bad, though not particularly memorable or resonant. So-so script with terse, witty dialogue - David Veloz never wants for a good one-liner. I was never bored, but it would be an overstatement to say I cared about the character Jerry Stahl, either. It's hard to imagine, though, anyone bringing him to life more fully or entertainingly than Ben Stiller. He is compulsively watchable, and without him I think this one might've been DOA. I guess it boils down to this: Is it just me, or is a guy who scores prime writing jobs and prime women while he's a hopeless smack addict inherently unsympathetic? (And the impression I get from the writing and casting is that we are very much meant to feel in some way for Jerry.)

Permanent Midnight is the autobiographical story of the life and times of Jerry Stahl. This was a movie that tested the boundaries of what could be shown on the movie screen. Ben Stiller's performance as Jerry Stahl was dramatic to say the least. Stiller's performance was excellent and really showed me the flipside of what could happen to somebody when they get hooked on drugs. The whole cast from Maria Bello to Elizabeth Hurley were solid support for the main character, Jerry Stahl. The real Jerry Stahl actually had a role, which surprised me, as Dr. Murphy from the drug rehabilitation clinic. Stahl recounts his life from a hotel room while having a sexual encounter he met while he was working at a restaurant drive-thru. The way that the director lays out the film is perfect; it is different than what I have seen before. The way Jerry Stahl recounts his life the way he did pleasantly surprised me. I warn anyone who wants to watch Permanent Midnight to brace themselves for extreme drug use by sticking needles in arms and sensual love scenes. I recommend this film for its stars' performances.

I think Ben Stiller is one of the most talented comic actors currently working, even though he is often in awful movies (e.g. 'Zoolander', 'The Suburbans'). 'Permanent Midnight' is one of the best movies he has been involved with and features what is arguably his single finest performance. Based on the autobiography of TV hack writer Jerry Stahl, this is a smart, fresh and blackly humorous look at addiction and Hollywood. Stiller has a fine supporting cast here, especially his buddies and frequent co-stars Owen Wilson ('Bottle Rocket') and Janeane Garofolo ('Reality Bites'), the amazingly charismatic star-in-the-making Peter Greene ('Laws Of Gravity'), and comedy veteran Fred Willard ('Best In Show'), who all have small but memorable roles. Hell, even Liz Hurley and Cheryl Ladd are good in this, believe it or not. 'Permanent Midnight' was, like so many other good movies that don't pander to a mass audience, a box office flop, but will hopefully find a larger audience in years to come via video and DVD. I think it is one of the most underrated movies of the last ten years, and highly recommend it.